Caleb Flynn, a former “American Idol” contestant and pastor who was convicted last week of murdering his wife, a crime he tried to blame on an intruder breaking into their home, was sentenced to life without the possibility of parole Monday in Ohio.
Flynn did not take the stand in his defense during the trial, but he proclaimed his innocence in the killing of his wife, Ashley, before he was sentenced.
“I have unfortunately lied about a lot of things over the last couple of years, but as I stand here before God, who is my ultimate judge, I am not lying when I say I did not kill my wife,” Flynn said. “I will continue to fight for my innocence as long as the Lord allows me to, as I did not kill my wife.”
Ashley Flynn’s mother, Jill Smith, read a statement in court from one of the couple’s two daughters, Alyssa Flynn.
“I love you deeply with all my heart, and it’s sad that you can’t love anyone but yourself,” Smith read from her 12-year-old granddaughter’s statement. She also said that confessing to the killing would be the least her father could do.
“Our family has never been stronger, and through all of what you put me through, God is going to work something out for good, and by the way, I don’t plan on coming to see you,” Smith read from the statement.
Miami County Common Pleas Judge Jeannine Pratt said the jury’s guilty verdict in the case left her with “one clear and obvious conclusion.”
“Your actions, Mr. Flynn, were abhorrent,” Pratt said. “The layers of deceit, manipulation and cruelty that you have shown are quite honestly impossible to fathom, and frankly, sir, you used your faith to manipulate the lives of others.”
Prosecutors said Flynn shot his wife, 37, twice in the back of the head while she was asleep in bed on Feb. 16. They alleged he then staged their Tipp City, Ohio, home to mimic a break-in and called 911 to claim an intruder was responsible for the murder.
Caleb Flynn had claimed he was in another room when his wife was killed.
Flynn was found guilty of nine charges in total, including aggravated murder and three charges of murder, two charges of felonious assault and three charges of tampering with evidence. The aggravated murder charge is what carried the life sentence, and five other charges, including the three murder charges, were rolled into that sentence. Flynn was also sentenced to three years for each of the tampering with evidence charges, three years each for two separate firearm enhancements and another year for a third firearm enhancement.
Caleb Flynn texted, “I need her to die”
During the trial, Alleigha Botner, 24, who said she had an affair with the defendant, testified about the tens of thousands of text messages the two shared, including some in which he wrote he wanted his wife dead.
Botner testified to a roughly 18-month sexual affair with Caleb Flynn, whom she met when she was an intern at his church. She described how the two hid their messages, admitted to lying to the FBI at first, and explained how she lost her phone and work laptop just weeks before Ashley’s death.
Asked how she feels about Flynn today, she testified, “I hate him.”
In the texts, many of which were read in court, Caleb Flynn repeatedly said he wished Ashley Flynn was dead.
“I need her to die, to cheat again, to leave,” Caleb Flynn wrote to Botner about his wife on Feb. 11, 2025, almost exactly a year before she was shot. FBI Special Agent Andrea Kinzig, who testified during the trial, said she found no evidence on Ashley Flynn’s phone of her having an affair, as Caleb Flynn had told Botner, according to her testimony.
Weeks later, Caleb Flynn texted Botner, “I hate her as well and I want her gone.” On March 24, 2025, Botner wrote, “What can I do?” and he responded, “Kill her.”
Caleb Flynn once texted Botner, “I was up until 4 a.m. last night … trying to think of ways to kill her and not go to jail. If I could literally kill her and not go to hell, I would do it in a heartbeat.”
